I had my piano in storage for several years. I didn’t think much of it; it was dry; it was safe. I thought the most damage was that it would be out of tune.

Oh, how wrong I was!!

By being in storage so long, mice infested it. And you wouldn’t think something so small could do a lot of harm. …. But they can. They almost destroyed the interior of the piano just by gnawing and urinating on everything inside. Keys had to be replaced. Hammers had to be replaced. … It was a mess and an expensive lesson.

When we keep material things in storage, they are going to be damaged by the elements or vermin such as mice. The same thing happens when we park our faith in storage.

It’s not that we mean to put our faith in storage – it just sometimes happens. We get discouraged and feel defeated and we put everything in park. We allow other people to distract us from following Christ by gossip, worry, and just plain laziness. And I must confess I’m the worse one for the latter. I feel like my mind gets stuck in storage and I can’t seem to clear away the junk. The thing is, in storage the devil sends his little ‘mice’ and creates all sorts of havoc that we don’t even notice until we start pulling our faith out of the storage. Then we realize our hearts have been gnawed on by lies and hypocrisies. We’ve looked at how everyone else acts without pausing to reflect on how we act.

But we can get our faith out of storage and begin living again. We can make a conscious decision not to be lazy or slothful in our faith and strive to be true disciples of Christ. It’s time to get rid of the mice; air out our faith; and live again in the newness of life. It’s time to get out of the storage shed.